Jose Obdulio Gaviria, who was an adviser to former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, refused to testify on the illegal wiretapping of government opponents by state security agency DAS in court Wednesday.
Obdulio declined to answer questions from the prosecutor general on the advice of his lawyer Antonio Jose Cancino, who requested that the prosecutor first provide evidence showing why it is necessary for his client to testify.
Cancino said that the prosecutor could not formulate charges, and that the lawyer had therefore advised his client to abstain from testifying until more concrete evidence was provided.
The questioning of Obdulio has now been postponed indefinitely.
The former presidential adviser is one of four close Uribe aides summoned to testify due to their suspected involvement in the illegal wiretapping of Supreme Court magistrates, journalists, human rights workers, and opposition politicians.
Uribe’s press secretary Cesar Mauricio Velasquez, the president’s communications adviser Jorge Mario Eastman, and Uribe’s judicial adviser Edmundo de Castillo were also ordered to testify before prosecution investigators between August 11 and 17.